Ravine School District Honor Roll, 1946

9 January 20249 January 2024 ~ ctw ~ Leave a comment

On Memorial Day, 1946 the Community Club of Ravine, PA dedicated the Ravine School District Honor Roll of World War II listing men from the community who had served in the war. The memorial was constructed of “mountain stone” and there was a parade. These photographs were made by Press-Herald correspondent Alvin C. Schwalm and each was dated May 30, 1946. I bought these photographs from a dealer in Baltimore, MD.

These houses still stand across from the Ravine Memorial on PA-125, but the railroad track behind the memorial is gone.

The following news item appeared on page 12 of the 1 June 1946 edition of the Pottsville Republican:

HONOR ROLL WAS UNVEILED

At the dedication and unveiling of the Ravine Honor Roll, sponsored by the Community Club of that town, Arthur H. Henninger and Attorney R. M. Bashore were the speakers.

George Reinert was master of ceremonies, and the program included the invocation by Rev. H. C. Correll, presentation of plot by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kiefer, Sr., and the acceptance by Harvey L. Hubler, dedication and raising of flag by the Boy Scouts, selections by the Pine Grove Band, appreciation to contributors and dedication of Memorial, followed by the Benediction by Rev. M. M. Kipps. The Gold Star Mothers officiated at the unveiling of the memorial, the Gold Star Fathers in placing memorial wreath, and the Legion commander had charge of the formal dedication. A salute to the dead heroes brought the program to a close.

The building committee consisted of Charles Keefer, Sr., Wilson Lengle, Stanley Barr, Edward Harris and Irvin Zimmerman. Donations, Ravine Defense Council, Salvage Drive, Joe Zerbe, chairman; Charles Lengle, Nicolo Scott, C. Schlock, Sr. The flag for the honor roll was given by Pine Grove American Legion Post No. 374.

Following is a list of boys on the honor roll: Donald Barr, Clyde Barry, Warren Boyer, William Boyer, Robert Day, Harry Deaven, Claude Eichert, John Eichert, Arther Eidem, Lester Felty, Phaon Fisher, Harvey Herring, Arthur Hubler, Earl Hubler, Samuel Hubler, Willard Hubler, Charles Kiefer, Jr., Paul Kiefer, Luther Serschner, Harold Kimmel, Lester Sershner, Harold Kimmel, Lester Kimmel, William Kimmel, Clark Krammes, Paul Lehman, Carl Lehr, Harry Lehr, William Lehr, Arthur Lengle, Charles Lengle, George Lengle, Kenneth Lengle, Arther McCue, Lewis Miller, Paul Miller, Frank Mutschler, Francis Nagle, Herman Rager, Emil Rarick, Harold Raudenbush, Garfield Reichert, Donald Romberger, Elwood Romberger, Edwin Rumpf, Clark Sattizahn, Fred Schach, Henry Schach, Allen Schneck, Earl Schneck, Stanley Schneck, Clayton Schutt, Harry Shuttle, Joseph Schutt, Lloyd Stager, Elmer Strauss, William Strauss, Thomas Walton, Arthur Weller, Charles Wenrich, David Wise, Joseph Wise, Marlin Wise, Herbert Yorty, Arthur Zerbe, Stuart Zerbe, [and] Carl, Edwin, Franklin, Ralph, Warren and William Zimmerman.

Pottsville Republican (Pottsville, Pennsylvania) · Wed, May 29, 1946 · Page 9
https://www.newspapers.com/image/450017226 Downloaded on Jan 2, 2024

The current GoogleMaps view of the memorial which is located on the west side of PA-125 at 40°34’37.56″N 76°24’17.02″W. The sidewalk was added in 2017.

Mildred Doris Minster Oppenheimer

8 October 2023 ~ ctw ~ 1 Comment

All of the materials in this post came from a box containing dozens of photographs and a lovingly curated album. I purchased the materials from an antique store in Baltimore in late August 2023.

The creator of the album and the subject of most of the identified photographs in the collection is Mildred Doris Minster (1898-1983) who is pictured below with each of her parents, Abraham Lincoln Minster (1865-1950) and Ella Hess (1873-1953). All four of her grandparents were born in Germany.

Mildred married Myron M. Oppenheimer in August 1920 and they had two children. First born was Morton Samuels Oppenheimer (1898-1983), the subject of the photo album, a professional photographer (Photographs by Morton) and historian who served as president of the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Second born was Beryl Oppenheimer Frank (1928-2019), a poet and prolific author of books.

Mildred’s maternal grandfather was Nathan Hess (1824-1881). Nathan was born in Bavaria and came to Baltimore in the 1850s. In 1872 he started manufacturing footwear in Baltimore that was retailed as Hess Shoes until 1999.

“Born 1790-1800, Mrs. Hess, Mother of Nathan Hess”

Mildred, the baby of the family, named her son after Morton B. Samuels (1870-1941), husband of her next oldest sibling, Belle Hess (1872-1970). Belle and Morton, pictured below, were living at the Hotel Belvedere when Morton died, and Belle resided there until her death. Belle’s obituary informed that she was known as “Ma” and “Aunt Belle” while serving as “one of the USO‘s most tireless workers” during World War II. Morton founded M. Samuels & Co. of which Newark Shoe Store Company was a part. Belle and Morton were huge benefactors of Sinai Hospital.

Lt. R. H. Farber

24 March 2023 ~ ctw ~ 1 Comment

I almost always grab military photographs when I come across them and I couldn’t resist this one when I encountered it at a Baltimore antique store in mid-2022. I rarely can make much of them, but this one was a surprise. It sat around in a stack of stuff until I finally decided to see what it was about. A close examination revealed a name plate on the table in the foreground, “LT R. H. Farber”:

Farber, the only officer in the shot, is obviously the subject given that almost everybody else is looking at the photographer while Farber appears to be engrossed in his work.

Robert “Bob” Holton Farber (1914-2013) was born in Geneseo, IL to Charles William Farber (1881-1965) and Hulda Ella Ogden (1881-1968). Both families had been in Illinois for several generations. He married Edna Earle Klutts (1918-1997) in 1946 and they had two children. He also outlived his second wife, Vera May Knauer Kierstead (1913-2012).

Farber graduated from DePauw University in 1935 and was never far away from the institution for long after that. According to an obituary, Farber returned to the university in 1937 as secretary of admissions. After serving in the U.S. Army in the European Theater from 1941-1946, Farber went back to DePauw, got his Doctor of Education degree in 1951 (IU), and was appointed dean in 1942, eventually retiring as vice president and dean of the university in 1979.

Farber enlisted as a private in September 1941 at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, IN. He was commissioned at some point and separated as a major, and somewhere along the way was awarded the Bronze Star. He ended his career as the Classification Officer for the U.S. Third Army, which means he was a personnel officer responsible for making sure the right personnel were put in the right jobs in furtherance of the unit’s mission. A Google search, or a search on Ancestry, will show you quite a few photographs of Farber sitting at a desk and working at every stage of his career.

Upton House

11 March 202311 March 2023 ~ ctw ~ 2 Comments

The photograph above depicts the birthplace of Everett Hughs Upton (1915-2007) in Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, LA, the son of Edwin Adolphus Upton (1875-1950) of Claiborne Parish, and Emma M. Hughs (1886-1983) of Poolesville, MD. Emma’s origination in Poolesville probably explains why I was able to purchase the photograph from an antique store in Baltimore.

Edwin moved to Washington, DC and was employed as “Clerk, Class 1” in the “Office of the Military Secretary” in 1905. In 1910 he graduated from Georgetown University Law School. In 1912 he married Emma, a school teacher who had been working as a printer’s assistant at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1905. Edwin registered for the WWI draft while he was working for the Office of Indian Affairs out of the courthouse in Ashland County, WI. Edwin and Emma divorced in 1944. Their other son, Edwin David Upton (1913-1980) was born in DC before they moved to Haynesville.

There isn’t a lot of information available about Everett. He never married. He graduated from Dickerson High School in Dickerson, MD in 1931 and the Strayer College of Accountancy in 1934 with a “secretarial diploma.” He was a member of the executive committee of The Canterbury Club, “the Episcopal student group of George Washington University in 1940. Corporal Everett Upton returned from overseas service in December 1945. According to his obituary published in The Frederick New-Post on 24 July 2007, “Mr. Upton was a graduate of Brown University, and had served with the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. He taught in the public school system of Providence, R.I., for many years, until his retirement.”

Romeo Tate Perry

8 March 20238 March 2023 ~ ctw ~ Leave a comment

The above photograph depicts Romeo Tate Perry (1871-1931) who was the third husband of Esther Ellen “Nellie” Oertly Alexander (1869-1955), mother of Edward Lescallet Alexander (1889-1959), the subject of the post before last. I was doing some organizing in the home office and found Romeo’s photograph in a stack of stuff purchased at the same antique store in Baltimore where I bought Edward’s photograph.

Romeo was born in Morgantown, NC to James Alexander Perry (1847-1923) and Mary Elizabeth Sisk (1848-1886).

This photograph of Romeo was used in a news story about their marriage that also included a photograph of Nellie:

Another marriage announcement contained a succinct version of Romeo’s career to that point:

I found three letters to the editor that Romeo wrote over the years. The first one appeared in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) on 8 April 1903:

The second one appeared in the Fort Smith Times (Fort Smith, AR) on 29 March 1904:

The last one appeared in The Washington Herald on 15 August 1922:

The Hanover Creamery

24 February 2023 ~ ctw ~ 6 Comments

The above photograph depicts the Hanover Creamery of Hanover, PA. Identifying this place was pretty easy given that the establishment’s name is on the water tower and in the caption in the lower right corner: PureFood Products, Hanover Creamery, Hanover, PA. Someone somewhere helpfully wrote “Hanover Creamery” on its reverse. The photographer was Swords Brothers of Hanover. I purchased it from an antique dealer in Baltimore.

While the photograph is undated, the operation first began production in 1881. It was was converted to a joint-stock company in 1882 under the name Hanover Creamery Company with the sale of 50 shares at a price of $100.00.

Jeune Mummert of Hanover donated a copy of this photograph to the Looking Back page of Baltimore’s The Evening Sun. The paper dated it to 1912 and published in it’s 9 August 1990 edition with a request for more information. The paper republished in it its 9 August 1990 edition after being informed by Bill Marquet of Hanover that the photograph dates to 1925-1926 and its setting is 215 Poplar Street, Hanover. I won’t vouch for either of the dates, but the location on Poplar Street appears to be correct.

Edward Lescallet Alexander

22 February 20237 March 2023 ~ ctw ~ 2 Comments

The image above depicts Edward Lescallet Alexander (1889-1959) who was born in the District of Columbia to Clarence Lee Alexander (1865-) and Esther Ellen “Nellie” Oertly (1869-1955). Clarence seems to have disappeared. He was enumerated with the family in the Census of 1900, but the Census of 1910 records Nellie’s surname as Larson. There is no death date on Clarence’s tombstone. The section where his father’s name should be is “Unknown” on Edward’s death certificate. Clarence and Nellie had two other children, Pauline Elizabeth Alexander (1891-1896) and David Lee Alexander (1896-1957). I was unable to figure out who Larson was, but Nellie later married Romeo Tate Perry (1871-1931) and outlived him by 24 years.

Update: Nellie married Arthur H. Larson (1876-1907) in 1903 but he died of TB in his home state of Wisconsin in 1907.

Edward married Susie “Sue” Minerva Timmerman (1893-1957) of Illinois in 1911. They had one son, Ralph Valden Alexander (1911-1960) who married Eva Valline McDonald (1917-1995) in 1942. Edward worked as a fleet mechanic, as a gas station manager, and, after 1942, for the Timber Engineering Company-Southwest in the Houston area. Edward died of heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver.

I might not have been able to identify the subject of the photograph had his mother’s maiden name not been unusual. Nellie’s father, Bartholome Oertli (1827-1878), an architect and inventor, was born in Switzerland. Edward’s middle name was the surname of a husband of one of Nellie’s paternal aunts: John William Lescallett (d. 1901) was married to Elizabeth Wilhelmina Oertly Lescallett Miller (1869-1956).

Mary Helen Robison

17 April 202217 April 2022 ~ ctw ~ 4 Comments

The subjects of a November 2021 post on this blog, the Clarence Colton Dawsons, wrote a caption on the reverse of the above photograph identifying its subject:

Miss Helen Robinson [sic], Home Economics Teacher at Goodlettsville, Tennessee, standing in front of Mrs. W. B. Myers home where we all boarded. [signed] Mr. & Mrs. C. Colton Dawson

That the W. B. Myers mansion served as a boarding house for more than one of the teachers at Goodlettsville High School [GHS], not just the Dawsons, was new information to me. This research was complicated not only by the various spellings of her surname, but also by the fact that there were two other Helen Robisons teaching in Tennessee when this Helen was teaching.

Mary Helen Robison (1910-2005) was born in Williamson County, TN to William Thomas Robison, Sr. (1858-1915) and Lillian “Lillie” Mai Wilson (1857-1939), the eighth of ten children. W. T. and Lillie were also natives of Williamson County and he was serving his third term as county trustee at the time of his death. Helen graduated from George Peabody College for Teachers with a bachelor of science degree in June 1931. The Census of 1940 listed her residence in 1935 as “Corners,” in Marshall County, TN, which probably refers to Cornersville where I suspect she taught at the high school.

Helen was the Home Economics teacher and the Home Economic Club sponsor at GHS in 1938. Here are two photographs of Helen that appeared in the 1938 GHS yearbook, Les Memoires:

Goodlettsville High School Faculty, 1938

Goodlettsville High School Home Economic Club, 1938

I’m not sure how many years Helen was at GHS before 1938, but by February 1939 she had moved to Memphis and joined the Teacher Training Faculty at Memphis State College [MSC]. In the Census of 1940, Helen and fellow faculty member Pauline Hilliard were enumerated as renters of apartment #2 at 449 Patterson street for $37.50 per month. Hilliard eventually became Dr. Francis Pauline “Polly” Hilliard (1909-2005), an author and professor of elementary education and curriculum who was chair of the education department at the University of Florida’s College of Education from 1960-1968. Their portraits appeared in MSC’s 1940-1941 yearbook, the Desoto:

Helen Robison and Pauline Hilliard in the Memphis State College Yearbook for 1940-41.

Helen married Lawton Reginald Wadsworth, Sr. (1909-1996) in November 1941. Lawton was a teacher in the Shelby County [Memphis] school system after having been educated at Lambuth College and George Peabody College. Lawton was a native of Ripley, TN, as were his parents, the Rev. Lawton Rhette Wadsworth (1855-1966), a school teacher before answering the call to ministry in the Methodist church, an Eddie Mai Bibb (1888-1838), also a teacher.

Helen was a Methodist, an active member of Alpha Delta Kappa, and served in the Order of the Eastern Star. Lawton was also a Methodist and a Mason. They are buried together in Ripley Memorial Gardens.

That House in Altoona

28 March 202228 March 2022 ~ ctw ~ 4 Comments

The house pictured above is located at 2111 Fifth Avenue, Altoona, PA. There is a caption on the reverse [see below] which informs that the folks standing in front of the house are

Aunt Mary Moore
Uncle Willie Moore
Bill Moore
Elizabeth Moore
George Kearney
(Grandpa Kearney in Center)

The mother of the family was Mary Kearney (1866-1955), the daughter of George Kearney (1822-1886) and Catherine Moore (1838-1873). She was married to William Moore (1863-1946), also a native of Ireland, whose parents I was unable to identify. Mary and William arrived separately to the USA from County Donegal in the 1880s and married in May 1890. Their children were William Victor Moore (1891-1988), Elizabeth Kearney Moore (1895-1961), and, not pictured, George Harold Moore (1900-1981).

George Kearney is Mary’s nephew, George William Kearney (1895-1966), and Grandpa Kearney is Mary’s brother, William Kearney (1862-1922), who married Mary Margaret “Maggie” Moore (1864-1942) in 1893. George and Maggie’s other children were Thomas C. Kearney (1899-1901) and Allan Moore “Al” Kearney (1902-1979).

The first mention of the house in the newspapers was in May 1899: A quiet wedding was celebrated yesterday evening at the home of Mr. William Moore, 2111 Fifth avenue, who is a brother-in-law of the bride. The wedding united Mary’s sister Elizabeth Anne Kearney (1872-1939) with James Crawford (1870-1919), both also natives of Ireland. In the Census of 1900, Grandpa Kearney’s family was enumerated at 2107 Fifth Avenue, which had not been built when this photograph was taken. We can date the photograph to 1896-1898.

I suspect the person who wrote the caption on the back of the photograph was one of the Crawford children. I’d explain why I think that, but figuring out the Kearneys and Moores of Altoona in the late 19th Century gave me a headache — I want to move on to the next thing.

Both 2111 and 2107 are still there but, because the GoogleEarth camera did not drive down Fifth Avenue, we can only see them from above:

Carlo’s Family

21 January 2022 ~ ctw ~ Leave a comment

Carlo and family, Vergennes Township, Kent County, MI, July 1893

Above we see Carlo the Dog resting on the ground in the foreground while his family poses around him. I was unable to find Carlo’s vital statistics or any other information about him. From all appearances, he was a good boy. Carlo’s identity and the identities of his family members are inscribed on the reverse of the photograph, along with the date.

Standing to Carlo’s far left is Otis Bailey (1848-1920) and standing in the doorway is Amy Parker (1852-1907). Both were born in Vergennes Township, Kent County, MI and married there in December 1870.

Otis and Amy had two daughters. First born was Nellie M. Bailey (1872-1927) who is standing to Carlo’s immediate right. She married Frank A. Gould (1871-1945) in December 1891 and their first child, Mary Amy “Matie” Gould (1892-1977), who is sitting on the blanket to her mother’s right, was born the following September. Matie married Oscar U. Rivette (1888-1925) in 1912 and they had two children, Zeona Avon Rivette (1916-2001) and Gould Oscar Rivette (1995). Matie’s siblings were Zeona Gould (1894-1982) and Howard O. Gould (1898-1963).

Standing to Carlo’s immediate right is Otis’s and Amy’s other daughter, Grace E. Bailey (1882-1939). She married Bela C. Cowles (1880-1961) in 1912, divorced him in 1916, then married Anthony Baldus (1880-1930) in 1917.

The lady standing near the front porch steps is identified in the photograph’s caption by the apparent nickname “Auntie Duggy.” Assuming that Auntie Duggy was a member of the familly, I imagined that I would find her in an obituary, but the newspapers in and around Kent County are not well digitized. I got lucky in that one of the very few newspaper articles associated with this entire project was this one:

Belding Banner (Belding, Michigan) · Thu, May 21, 1896 · Page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/613366294 Downloaded on Jan 1, 2022

On this slim evidence, I am confident that Auntie Duggy refers to Clarissa T. “Clara” Mason (1835-1907), the only child of Benjamin Mason (1811-1884) and Mary Tompkins (1817-1885). When the photograph was made in 1893, Clara was the widow of Jerome A. Duga (1833-1887), though it appears the marriage had failed earlier because Jerome had married Miranda “Mattie” Griswold in 1880. Clara and Jerome had three children: Henry A. Duga (1856-1916), Josephine Duga (1860), and William C. Duga (1861-1919). Henry had one son who married twice, William J. Duga (1930-2004), but there were no grandchildren.

On 24 November 1900, Clara was honored as a pioneer of Grattan, MI, having moved with her family to the community from New York around the time of its founding in 1844. The Belding Banner observed that the guests spent time eating oysters and chicken pie and

[R]ecalling all the tender memories of those pioneer days when show and pride counted for nothing. When false appearances covered with broad cloth, silk or rich apparel made none famous. When we lived heart to heart, visited our neighbors, knew all their sorrows–like one family, confided in one another and loved one another too. I earnestly ask: are those virtues lost and past, must we ignore plain common sense, or the teachings of conscience to become popular, or is it the glamour of mistaken ideas peculiar to this day and generation, throwing a dazzling unreal over the real, pure and true that our old eyes cannot just at present penetrate?
Belding Banner (Belding, Michigan) · Thu, Nov 29, 1900 · Page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/613583192 Downloaded on Jan 1, 2022

The setting of the photograph was the home of Amy’s parents, Sheldon B. Parker (1827-1912) and Mary Jane Dickson, (1831-1892), both of whom were born in York County, Canada. Below is an 1876 map showing the location of the Parker farm on what is now Bailey Drive Northeast in Kent County. Also shown is the farm belonging to Otis’s parents, Smith Bailey (1818-1884) and Miriam “Mary Ann” Wait (1820-1924) who were both from upstate New York. Use the Vergennes Church on the left and the Flat River on the right as reference points.

Detail of a 1876 Map of Vergennes Township, MI

August 2021 GoogleEarth view of the above detail

If anyone can identify the small wooden structure to Otis’s left, please let me know. I suspect it might have something to do with an underground water cistern. Here is a detail: